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The Schoolmaster

by Roger Ascham

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"The Schoolmaster" from Roger Ascham. Scholar and didactic writer (1515-1568).
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[The Scholemaster] was published posthumously in 1570. In its preface it tells the reader that the book was written following a conversation with Richard Sackville over dinner one evening. Sackville wanted Ascham to either tutor his children or suggest someone else who could do the job, Sackville blamed his own lack of education on the beatings he received from his masters, that put him off scholarship for life. A traditional method of teaching at the time was to literally beat education into pupils, Ascham agreed that this was not the way to proceed and undertook to write a book on the subject. Persuasion rather than coercion became the watchwords of Ascham’s book.

Ascham abandoned the more traditional conversational style he had used for Toxophilus, but kept a similar format of two books, the first being a more general theory on education the second a more practical guide with examples of teaching methods. The first part emphasises the need for a change in the way children should be taught; he says:

“I have now wished twice or thrice, this gentle nature to be in a schoolmaster: and that I have done so, neither by chance, nor without some reason, I will now declare at large why, in mine opinion, love is fitter than fear, gentleness better than beating, to bring up a child rightly in learning”

He makes the point that the slower witted children need to be encouraged to learn and the schoolmaster may well find that a pupil who at first appears slow is perhaps more thoughtful, more careful and will in the end make the better scholar. He calls these type of children hard wits and says:

“hard wits tend to be kept from learning by fond fathers, or beat from learning by lewd schoolmasters”

It is no surprise that Ascham being a classical scholar himself should recommend that education should be based on the classics and his suggested method for learning is to translate a passage from a latin writer (he continually suggests Tully) and then retranslate that back into Latin with an attempt to imitate the perfect style of the Latin author. The highlights for the modern reader may well be the digressions that Ascham apologises for in his tract. He criticises the life style of some of the courtiers and suggests ways that they could improve themselves. He tells of a meeting he had with Lady Jane Grey (the young protestant queen who reigned for just a number of days before being overthrown and eventually executed by Queen Mary); he is lost in admiration to find the 15 year old woman hard at work at her Greek studies. He tells of his time in Italy where he found a degenerate nobility lost in the evils of Papistry, he rails against such rubbish as Morte D’arthur in which he says the noblest of knights kill men without any quarrel and commit adulteries by subtlest shifts, books written by idle monks or wanton canons that corrupt the mind. There is a lengthy passage about the truth of religion and honesty of living.

The second book is more technical but still has passages of interest, he reminisces fondly about his life at Cambridge and then goes on to tell of the corruption that came with the reign of Queen Mary. The hedge priests that held sway, the taking up of courtly gallantries, the idle games taking place in hidden corners. The book also contains a critique of Roman playwrights and pointers to those authors in England who attempt to write in the noble style. He has no truck with pointless rhyming, but his poem on the death of his friend John Whitney included here has some depth of feeling. The book ends somewhat precipitously and points to the fact that it was not quite completed when he died.

Michael Pincombe a sixteenth century historian has described the Schoolmaster as reading like a genial scholar, talking informally about a subject close to his heart. It would appear that Ascham traded on his geniality and this comes across in his letters, a few of which were written in English. These books would be of interest to those wishing to read primary sources from the sixteenth century, there are versions available where spelling and punctuation have been modernised and Ascham’s English is a delight to read. 4 stars. ( )
1 vote baswood | Jul 23, 2017 |
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» Add other authors (3 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Roger Aschamprimary authorall editionscalculated
Schoeck, Richard J.Editorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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"The Schoolmaster" from Roger Ascham. Scholar and didactic writer (1515-1568).

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